


You Know I'll Never Be Lonely

by evil_moo_bunny



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Everyone else is in the background - Freeform, Fluff, Focus on Aziraphale/Crowley, I just really want them to be happy okay?, M/M, No Dialogue, Okay some dialogue, Post-Canon, Proper grammar is for the weak, shameless amounts of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 21:42:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20234842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evil_moo_bunny/pseuds/evil_moo_bunny
Summary: "Doomsday had been averted, which had the side effect that everyone had to decide what to do next. Some people made rather big decisions (there were two separate calls to two rather upset mothers about staying in Tadfield longer than expected) while others decided it would probably be best to just tidy their rooms like their earthly father asked without any of the usual fussing.For a certain angel and a demon, they decided to start by taking a bus ride back to the demon’s flat together."Or:Aziraphale and Crowley decide to travel the world. They did just save it, after all.





	You Know I'll Never Be Lonely

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to my beta readers Grevola and Dawn. They were kind enough to read and give me the encouragement I needed to post the story here. All grammatical issues are mine and mine alone.
> 
> Title taken from "You're My Best Friend" by Queen, because it had to be. 
> 
> If my little fic inspires fanart/podfics/etc that would be AMAZING and I want to know all about it!

Doomsday had been averted, which had the side effect that everyone had to decide what to do next. Some people made rather big decisions (there were two separate calls to two rather upset mothers about staying in Tadfield longer than expected) while others decided it would probably be best to just tidy their rooms like their earthly father asked without any of the usual fussing. 

For a certain angel and a demon, they decided to start by taking a bus ride back to the demon’s flat together. 

They didn’t talk much, but they spoke in other ways. It was the way they leaned into each other, feeling the solid presence beside them. It was the way that, for the first time, a hand reached out and was met by the other, fingers twining together in a way that felt _right_.

Back at Crowley’s flat they looked over they prophecy and came up with a plan. They both wanted to make other, more pleasant plans, but first things first. Deciding to wear each others face was an idea that called for a great deal of wine, and of course they had to practice. This involved a great deal of undignified giggling and friendly squabbling (“I do not walk like _that_, what are you playing at?” “You’ve always walked like this. This is how you walk.”). Under other circumstances it would have actually been an enjoyable evening. 

They didn’t actually comment on how easy it was to slip into the persona of the other but it rather pleased them both. It turns out 6000 years of surreptitiously studying each other had really paid off. 

Over a celebratory dinner at the The Ritz they actually got to talk about what they wanted to do next and decided that since they had just saved the world, why not go and see it for a bit? It had been a while since they had really left England and they both felt they were due for a holiday. 

This plan was delayed slightly by the announcement of the marriage between Witchfinder Sergeant Shadwell and Madame Tracy. They had managed to find a perfect little cottage in the countryside not too far from Tadfield, where they regularly had tea with Anathema and Newt with occasional appearances by The Them. Aziraphale _happened_ to be visiting when Madame Tracy _happened_ to comment on how finding the perfect cottage in the perfect location was nothing short of miraculous, with a slightly raised eyebrow that communicated she was not fooled by the bland smile and rapid blinking of the angel. 

The wedding was small and lovely. The ceremony and reception took place in the back on Jasmine Cottage, with Aziraphale officiating and Newt and Anathema as best man and maid-of-honor respectively. The Them were the rest of the wedding party and Dog was the ring bearer. Technically the only guest was Crowley, though he spent most of the time hanging out behind the altar and adding his own commentary to the vows. Aziraphale kept shushing him, but honestly the things he added were rather sweet and no one actually minded.

After the reception Aziraphale and Crowley said their goodbyes and set off. Aziraphale and miracled his bookshop to be safe and unnoticed until he came back, and Crowley had left all his plants to Shadwell with strict instructions on how to abuse them properly. They didn’t really need to pack anything, though Madame Tracy insisted on sending them off with extra pieces of wedding cake (being as Aziraphale had taken it upon himself to arrange the catering for the event it was a _very_ good wedding cake). 

They made their way south first, crossing the English Channel on a ferry and holding hands as they looked out over the grey water. They wound their way through Europe, starting in the Netherlands. Crowley had an incredibly pleasant afternoon driving the Autobhan and made it up to his angel by stopping for crepes in France. They managed to make it to Barcelona in time for El Diada de Sant Jordi (which was Aziraphale’s favorite holiday and one he may have had a hand in starting).

Despite having a great time they didn’t stop for long in any one place along the way. There was something that pulled at each of them, a feeling that they had somewhere to be. It didn’t occur where they were going until they were well into Africa and had to leave the Bentley behind and wandered into the desert together. In the middle of nowhere they came to a place where no human had been in nearly 6000 years, and they stood where a mighty wall once circled a verdant garden. 

It was a place that had been buried deep into both of their beings, a moment imprinted upon their psyches. There, in the place where they first met they stood again, but no words were needed this time. They wrapped themselves in each other and stood there for a very long time, and when it began to rain Aziraphale sheltered them with his wings and Crowley laughed.

They emerged from that place with a feeling of renewed connection and the knowledge that they would not have to spend the next 6000 years hiding how they felt about each other. It was time for them to live, and live freely, and live joyfully. 

And so they did. They continued through Africa, performing miracles to protect endangered species and helping small villages get cleaner water. They went to the large cities and ate local cuisine and marveled at those who reminded them so much of Adam and Eve.

They went to Australia and crossed the ocean on boats so they were never far from the Bentley. They went shark diving and Azriaphale tried surfing and Crowley spent most of his time laughing and helping the angel stand up when he came tumbling into the beach (eventually he got the hang of it and the locals were very supportive of his efforts). They drove inland and Crowley made friends with the snakes and laid in the desert and napped. 

They went to South America next, driving their way upward. They went to wineries in Argentina and visited Machu Picchu and Crowley made a few comments about how the alpacas reminded him of Aziraphale. They crisscrossed the continent and visited small towns and large cities and did quite a lot of eating and confused a lot of locals by talking about their history as if they had been there and how it was a shame what had happened to the indigenous people (they bickered slightly on whose fault it was until deciding that, like most things in human history, it was really just humans). 

They went through Central America and up the West Coast of the United States, where they went on celebrity tours in LA and went whale watching off the Oregon coast. They drove across the country and when they found themselves in the endless flat landscape of Montana with no one else around Aziraphale put his hand on Crowley’s thigh and said to drive as fast as he wanted. The look of pleased surprised lasted just a second before being replaced by a truly devilish grin, and while Aziraphale was terrified the entire time it was worth it just to hear the way his demon laughed. 

They stopped at battlefields and historical monuments and weird roadside attractions like House on the Rock and the Largest Ball of Twine and Rock City. They spent a week watching musicals at Broadway and went to both Disneyland and Disneyworld and it turned out they both loved roller coasters. 

They went through Canada and on to Alaska and made their way south again to Hawai’i and from there to Japan. It was a short jump from there to the Asian mainland and they drove through wide open spaces and crowded streets and if Aziraphale thought being the Bentley during London traffic was bad it was nothing compared to Beijing. 

They saw the world. The angel and the demon went through towns so small there were more livestock than people and cities so big it felt as if they could get lost. Aziraphale dragged Crowley into small bookshops but respectfully didn’t buy anything (unless it was one of those strange ones where buying books was actually encouraged) and Crowley went through public gardens and happily yelled at the plants. They went to Farmer’s Markets in every country they visited and attended protest marches where they made sure everyone around them stayed safe. They went to Pride Parades and held hands with a young man whose family had kicked him out of the house for being who he was and they both performed a miracle to help him and others like him find a home where they could safely rebuild a family of their own making. 

They stood at the equator and laughed as the hot sand burned their feet (not as bad as being in a church, according to Crowley) and they watched the Northern Lights and held each other against the cold neither of them could really feel. 

There was so much to indulge in, and they indulged in as much of it as possible. Food, of course, was one of the most frequent and beloved. It became a game to find the best little hole in the wall restaurant that specialized in local cuisine wherever they went, and they became _very_ good at it (Crowley was actually better than Aziraphale, with the angel learning to always trust the demon’s judgement in such matters). They drank wine and craft beer and local whiskeys. 

But most of all they indulged in each other. In all their meetings before the doomsday-that-wasn’t they had always had to watch out behind them, the fear of getting caught always sullying the enjoyment of their time together. Now they could reach out and hold each other, laughing at inside jokes and stories and each other and themselves. It was better than all the food or beautiful landscapes in the entire world and they told each other as much through smirks and raised eyebrows and they way they tangled their fingers together. 

Days would pass where they wouldn’t feel the need to speak a single word because just being close was enough and they had silly arguments that lasted for weeks and made them both smile for the ridiculousness of it. They listened to music and sometimes Aziraphale would read out loud and though he never said it, Crowley loved the books of poetry best. 

Packages were sent back to Tadfield with silly gifts for those they had left behind. Books of local lore and occult studies were sent back to Anathema and Newt got the loudest and most obnoxiously touristy shirts they could find. They took to sending speciality teas and small handwoven shawls to Madame Tracy while Shadwell got a growing collection of strange and unusual pins. The Them all got gifts as well: toys at first, and as they got older books and fun niche items. Crowley was the only one with a mobile phone and was actually kept in pretty good contact with everyone and delighted in showing Aziraphale the pictures Anathema sent of Newt in his horrible shirts.

Time passed without them paying any attention to it, and before long they were getting pictures of The Them looking less like children and more like young adults (Dog, mysteriously, never seemed to age). No one was surprised when the first of the four to get a girlfriend was Pepper, though there were the usual growing pains when a small group is forced to expand (they survived it, of course, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t a few calls to Aziraphale and Crowley from Anathema talking about how she didn’t remember signing up to be the therapist to a group of hormonal world-saving teens). 

It was when they got the notice that Newt and Anathema were finally set to be married that they decided it was time to head back to the place that both of them had come to think of as home, as it turns out that one forms an attachment to the place where you helped stopped the apocalypse from happening. 

Azriaphale was once again asked to officiate, though this wedding was slightly larger than the last. Despite a number of protests from confused family members Shadwell and Madame Tracy were the best man and maid-of-honor, with The Them reprising their roles in the wedding party complete with Dog as a ring-bearer. It only seemed to make sense that Adam and Brian’s suit coats were black and Wensleydale’s was white and while Pepper wore a lovely dark blue dress (as picked out by Anathema) she paired it with black combat boots with bright red laces. 

They returned to London afterwards, and it was mutually agreed upon that it made the most sense for Crowley’s flat to find a new space above the bookshop. He had to get all new plants as the ones he had left to Shadwell had been hopelessly spoiled by Madame Tracy when no one was looking and it was simply no use trying to discipline them back into behaving properly. 

They went back and had tea regularly with everyone in the Tadfield area and attended graduation parties for The Them and baby showers for when Anathema and Newt decided that having children of their own was nothing compared to what they had already been through (they were, of course, wrong, but in all the best ways). Crowley and Aziraphale were delighted to be named actual, official godfathers to the newest Device-Pulifers, though Anathema was very firm that the demon was not allowed to actually nanny their children. 

There were struggles, of course, but it was the imperfection that highlighted how wonderful their existence was. They were always keenly aware that there was another war on the horizon and maybe they took small, subtle steps to help when the time came (their worldwide tour not simply being a holiday, it turns out). 

But for now there were quiet evenings in the back of the bookshop and dinners out and picnics, as promised so long ago. And while their first toast each evening may have been “to the world” what followed was softer, more secret, more personal. 

“To us,” they would whisper, and it was an acknowledgement and a quiet dare to the universe that nothing was ever going to take them apart from each other again.


End file.
